


Barely breathing

by Elisexyz



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Bromance, Dehydration, Exhaustion, Fainting, Gen, Hurt Harvey, Hurt!Harvey, Kevin being a good friend, Panic, protective mike, protective!Mike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: Mike thought that the closest he would ever come to dying was when Gallo tried to stab him with a knife on his second day at Danbury. He was wrong: when Harvey passed out on him during visitation he almost had a fucking heart attack.(For an anon on my Tumblr.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for [ an anon on my Tumblr](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/160378116474/can-i-get-a-fic-with-harvey-being-sick-or-passing) who requested:
>
>> _can I get a fic with Harvey being sick or passing out or something while Mike is in prison so Mike goes crazy (the crazier the better) because he can't do shit about it?_  
> 
> 
> I love all the Marvey moments in 6A, I'm glad that they gave me an excuse to write something about it :P

“Harvey, I don’t know if I can actually do this.”

“Mike.” Harvey sighed, rubbing his forehead. “We’ve talked about this. It’s the only way.”

“I _know_.” Mike snorted. “But I am not happy about betraying my only friend in here, if you don’t mind.”

Kevin was the only guy who actually seemed to give a shit about him in there, and Mike was trying to get information out of him to get out. The plan was basically using him and then leaving him in there without a second thought. That wasn’t who Mike was, and he hated that he was forced to step into that role to avoid being killed by a bastard holding a grudge against Harvey.

He feared for his life every day in that place, and Kevin was the only one he trusted to not kill him in his sleep. Yet, he had accepted a deal that involved shamelessly betraying him.

He was trying to get him to give up useful information, he truly was, but it was taking his tool, because Kevin seemed like a good guy and Mike was just _using_ him.

Harvey just seemed so focused on making that stupid deal work that he was completely ignoring what a nasty betrayal Mike was being forced to commit. How could he just be fine with throwing Kevin under the bus?

“You barely know the guy!” Harvey blurted, exasperated. “If it’s the only way to get you out, it’s damn well _worth_ it.”

“Easy for you to say, you are not the one playing the snake here.” Mike muttered, crossing his arms and shooting Harvey a cold glare.

Harvey sighed once again, rubbing his forehead.

“Look, Mike,” He said, raising his eyes and straightening on the chair. “I understand that it’s not easy and that betraying him is the last thing you’d want to do, but it’s your _life_ we are talking about. You can’t just throw it away for _some guy_. It’s nasty, but it’s gotta be done.”

“I know.” Mike muttered. “It’s just that he has my back and if he didn’t walk around with me all the time I’d probably be dead by now and-” When Mike raised his eyes on Harvey, he noticed that he looked unfocused, his eyes fixed on the table between them and his face unnaturally pale. Mike hadn’t noticed how tired he actually looked. “Harvey?” He called. “Harvey, are you okay?”

When Harvey didn’t answer, for a second Mike was brought back to that day in the office, when Harvey was having a panic attack and he had scared the shit out of him. He immediately jumped on his feet, his legs numb and his knees weak as he crouched next to Harvey, touching his back to try and get his attention.

“Harvey? Harvey, what’s wrong? Shit, can you hear me?” He was aware that his voice was cracking with panic and if Harvey could actually hear him it wasn’t doing any good, but _shit_ , he wasn’t answering and Mike was scared out of his mind.

Then, out of the blue, Harvey just dropped unconscious. Mike immediately gripped him, keeping him from falling on the ground. His head was resting on Mike’s shoulder and Mike found himself yelling desperately for a guard to get there, for _someone_ to do something, _anything_ , because he had no idea what the fuck was going on and Harvey was fucking unconscious without any apparent reason and _shit, shit, shit_.

Two guards barged in, stopping on their tracks for a second at the sight before them.

“He- He just- I don’t know- He fainted out of the blue, I just- Please, help him, do something.” Mike was muttering, glancing back and forth between the guards and Harvey in his arms. He was forced to let go when the guards gripped Harvey and started carrying him out of the room.

Mike automatically stood up, following them as if attracted by an invisible force, his heart pounding and his eyes burning because _what the fuck was going on_ , but they shut the door on his face and Mike was left with his cheek pressed against the glass on the door, trying to spy the guards carrying Harvey down the corridor and wanting to scream his lungs out, to call Harvey’s name until he would get a fucking answer.

There were so many reasons why someone would faint, and Mike didn’t make it an habit of reading books about medicine but somewhere down the line he had apparently read _something_ , articles, whatever, because words like heart attack, seizures and hypoglycaemia kept flashing in his head.

It felt like ages had passed when a guard came to get him and to bring him back to his cell.

“Is he- Is he okay?” Mike asked, as the officer gripped his arm and started walking.

“They were bringing him to the infirmary.” The guard answered, and it didn’t sound like he had any more information to offer but Mike felt the urge to yell at him anyway, to try to get answers out of him because he _needed_ to know – low blood pressure could cause someone to faint, but that wasn’t too serious, or maybe it was, maybe it could be if mixed with something else; drug allergy could make you lose consciousness, maybe Harvey was taking some medication and he had had a bad reaction to it and _shit_ , wasn’t that considered a medical emergency?

By the time they got to the cell, he was about to start crying in panic, his head full of questions and _no fucking answers_.

“Mike? Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” Kevin asked, kneeling in front of him when Mike dropped on his bed, his hands shaking and his mouth unable to form any words to answer the question.

“Hey, it’s okay, just breathe.” Kevin tried to calm him down.

 _Breathe?_ What if Harvey had had a panic attack? He knew he had suffered from those and he had done some research about it and sometimes panic disorders lead to fainting. What if Mike had done something to trigger a panic attack and it was his fault if Harvey was now in the infirmary? Shit, he was such a self-centred little ingrate: Harvey was trying to help him, he was doing everything humanly possible to help him, and Mike had the nerve to complain about doing his part. Shit, shit, shit.

“Mike!” Kevin yelled. His hands were firmly gripping Mike’s arms, trying to get him to go back to reality. He had kinda succeeded, because Mike noticed that no oxygen was arriving to his lungs and that he was supposed to breathe, he needed to breathe just like he needed to know that Harvey was okay, but he couldn’t find out if he didn’t breathe, could he?

“It’s- It’s H-Harvey.” Mike finally managed to articulate, stumbling on the words.

“What about Harvey?” Kevin asked, frowning. He didn’t let go of his arms, and Mike was glad for the contact with reality – maybe it was a heart thing, you could faint if your heart started beating too slow or too fast, there was something called tachycardia and _shit_ , stuff involving the heart was never good.

“He passed out.” Mike explained. Saying it just made it more real. “I- We were talking and- I don’t know, it was sudden and- I don’t know.”

Kevin nodded, taking a quick breath before smiling reassuringly. “Well, people faint for many reasons, Mike.” Yeah, he knew. He couldn’t fucking stop thinking about all of those. “It’s not necessarily serious, you know.”

“But it _could_ be.” Mike couldn’t help replying. Maybe it was serious shit like pulmonary embolism or cardiac tamponade, or maybe he was just tired, Mike had no fucking way of knowing as long as he was trapped in that cell, goddammit.

He stood up without any warning, marching towards the door and bumping his fist against it so strongly that it hurt. “Guard!” He called.

“Mike, what the hell are you doing?” Kevin asked, taken aback.

Mike ignored him. “Guard!”

“What’s the matter with you, Ross?” A guard asked, annoyed, as soon as he had approached the cell. It was the same guard that had brought him back to the cell.

“How’s Harvey?” Mike asked, his tone demanding. “Is he okay?”

The guard arched his eyebrows. “I don’t know, but even if I did I couldn’t tell you.”

“He’s my attorney!” Mike protested, in spite of knowing that for anyone else that claim wouldn’t make any sense.

“Being his client doesn’t give you any right to personal information.” The guard pointed out. “Now stop yelling.”

Mike wanted to scream at him once again, to kick and punch until someone would let him go and see Harvey or at least tell him how he was doing, but he just ended up punching the door and cursing under his breath, his forehead resting against the closed door.

“Mike.” Kevin called. “I have a friend who works in the infirmary, I can ask him as soon as we get our time out.”

“I _can’t_ wait!” Mike blurted, suddenly turning towards Kevin, who looked slightly unsettled by his erratic behaviour, but Mike couldn’t give a shit at the moment.

He needed to see Harvey _now_. He needed to go the fucking infirmary.

“Punch me.” He said, looking at Kevin in the eyes.

Kevin took a step back as Mike approached him. “What?”

“I said _punch me_.” Mike insisted. “Punch me hard enough to make me bleed, I need to go to the infirmary.”

“Yeah, sorry, man, I’d prefer to avoid trouble.” Kevin replied, clearly not happy with the idea. And yeah, it probably wasn’t fair to expect him to be willing to get punished.

“Okay, okay, you’re right.” Mike muttered, taking a step back and rubbing his face. “I’ll just- I’ll just slam my head against the wall or something.”

“What?! You can’t be serious.” Kevin replied, in disbelief, but Mike was totally serious about it and he walked towards the furniture next to their beds, ready to cut his head open against the corner, when Kevin gripped him from behind and pinned him down on the bed.

“What do you think you are doing?!” Mike yelled, struggling to get Kevin off him, but his size surely didn’t make it easy.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Kevin replied. “I get it, you and your buddy Harvey are close, but I won’t let you break your head when you could just wait a little, man.”

“I _can’t_ wait.” Mike insisted.

“You can, and you will, even if we have to stay like this until they let us out.”

In the end, Mike gave up. They spent the time separating them from the chance to ask Kevin’s friend about Harvey talking, and Mike found Kevin to be way more willing to share than usual. It seemed like he was so determined to distract Mike that he didn’t mind talking a lot about his personal life. Nothing about why he ended up there, but Mike didn’t care, he was just glad for the distraction.

Mike too shared a couple of funny stories about his time at Harvey’s firm, even if he had to swallow the urge to scream and throw up a couple of times.

When the door was opened, Mike was immediately on his feet, his stomach twisted by anxiety and Kevin immediately stepping up, leading the way towards the spot where he usually met his friend.

When the guy came, Kevin asked if he had worked in the infirmary that day, then he proceeded to ask about an unconscious attorney that had been brought there.

“Yeah, blue suit, looked like he hadn’t got a good night sleep in the past few years?”

Mike nodded at the description, his throat dry and his heart pounding. Wasn’t that stupid thing supposed to stay in his chest? Mike was pretty sure that it didn’t belong in his _throat_.

“He’s his attorney.” Kevin explained.

The man nodded, then he shrugged. “Nothing to worry about, he was just tired and dehydrated, some sleep and water and he should be fine.”

Mike didn’t know how he managed to swallow the sudden urge to cry and laugh at the same time.

 

 

“There’s a Harvey Specter here to see you.”

Mike jumped on his feet, exchanging an incredulous look with Kevin, still sitting at the table. Wasn’t Harvey supposed to be resting? After what had happened the day before, he had assumed that he wouldn’t see him at least until the following day.

Nevertheless, he silently and obediently followed the guard towards the visitation room, feeling like he was about to puke and jump out of his skin at the same time. When he saw Harvey through the glass on the door, he barely could wait for the guard to open it before barging in.

Harvey was sitting behind a table and he still looked extremely tired, but he was conscious and he was there and fuck it, he seemed pretty much okay.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” Mike asked.

Harvey shrugged. “I have a busy schedule.”

Mike nodded, his eyes dropping on the floor, his arms still against his hips as he stretched his fingers, because they felt numb.

“You scared the shit out of me.” He mumbled, raising his eyes.

Harvey pressed his lips together, nodding briefly. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need to sleep and drink more, apparently.” Harvey smiled slightly and reassuringly.

“You are an idiot.” Mike commented, because he really _was_ , he was supposed to fucking take care of himself, not push his body to the limit until he collapsed.

“Shut up, you used to live on Red Bulls, pizza and coffee back when you started working for me.” Harvey pointed out, grinning.

“Well, I never passed out on you!”

Harvey waited a couple of seconds, his expression serious again, before saying: “Seriously, Mike, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Well, you did.” Mike replied, crossing his arms. “Just… Eat, drink and sleep. I’ll need you to be ready to kick ass to get me out as soon as I hold up to my end of the deal, right?” He said, smiling tentatively.

Harvey immediately smiled back. “Right.”

 

 

 


End file.
